1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a computer system and a control method thereof, in which a hard disk drive can be set to a lower noise mode by a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
While a computer system operates, noise is mainly generated by a cooling fan cooling hardware components placed inside a computer main body, a hard disk drive (HDD) used as a data storage and reading/writing data, a CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory) drive reading data from a CD, a speaker, etc.
Therefore, various methods have been proposed for decreasing the noise due to the hard disk drive, the CD-ROM, the cooling fan, etc.
In particular, to decrease the noise of the hard disk drive placed inside or outside of the computer main body, a user interface window is employed as shown in FIG. 1, which display s the method of managing power of the hard disk drive. Here, the user interface window of FIG. 1 is taken from Windows XP among affiliated Windows operating systems (OS).
A conventional process for decreasing the noise of the hard disk drive is as follows. First, a user opens a “Control Panel” window in the Windows XP (or affiliated Windows operating system) to set the hard disk drive to be automatically turned off when a predetermined time passes after the hard disk drive is not used. In the “Control Panel” window, a user clicks on a “Power Options” icon, thereby opening “Power Options Properties” window. In the “Power Options Properties” window, a user selects a “Power Schemes” tab, and selects a “Settings for Always On” power scheme option, so that the user interface window of FIG. 1 is displayed.
Then, a user sets a “Turn off hard disks” option to a desired time (in FIG. 1, “After 3 mins” is set by way of example), and clicks an “Apply” or “OK” button. At this time, data regarding a hard disk turn-off time, which is set in the “Turn off hard disks” option, is stored in a registry so that the above setting is implemented when the “Apply” or “OK” button is clicked or after the computer system is rebooted.
However, in such a conventional method for decreasing the noise of the hard disk drive by turning off its power, the noise decrement is only an accompanying effect of managing the power of the hard disk drive. Furthermore, the setting process is inconvenient for a user to set due to its complexity.
The hard disk drive has a rotational speed measured in revolutions per minute (RPM), which is a measure of how fast a hard disk drive retrieves data therefrom and stores data thereto. The higher the RPM, the faster the hard disk drive retrieves and stores the data. Traditionally, hard disk drives have had a rotational speed of 3,600 RPM. However, 4,500 RPM, 5,400 RPM, 7,200 RPM, and 10,000 or more RPM are now available.
The RPM of the hard disk drive is set when the hard disk drive is manufactured; therefore, a user cannot adjust the RPM. Furthermore, during normal operation of the computer system, the hard disk drive continuously rotates at its invariable RPM regardless of whether the hard disk drive is used or not, so that the noise is generated even when the hard disk drive is not used.